UPDATED: Day 2 wrap: Botany Bay selection races

For the second day in a row, Botany Bay played host to selection races for the Australian team to contest this year’s world championships in Vichy, France, and yesterday’s overcast conditions were replaced by stunning autumn sunshine.

While Saturday’s women’s open race was contested in glassy conditions, today’s event was buffeted by a strong onshore wind that gave tired legs even more of a challenge.

The weather setting might have been different, but the result was not, with Ellen Jones and Stinga F1 taking the race from Maddison Boyer, behind Pigs Arsenal.

Jones leads the point score with three wins and a second from four races as she bids to become the first woman in history to claim a world title in junior, F2 and open women’s categories.

In the women’s F2 event, point score leader Karen Follington with 99 Psycho Clowns showed her experience, winning by almost a minute from Lucy Savona (MeltdownF2) and race four winner Emma Barnes (HiJACT).

In the junior events, it was Bailey Cropper (Team 262N) and Nellie McMillan (Revolution Racing) who took the boy’s and girl’s races respectively.

Cropper staged a brilliant last lap surge to come from behind Velocity Racing and Zac McEwin to snatch the win by a margin of 0.32 seconds, an astoundingly close finish following more than 35 minutes of racing.

Third place went to Carter Robertson with the Robertson Racing boat.

McMillan, who beat Riley Jarvis (Mojo 40) by 40 seconds, continued her win streak and now has three selection race wins from as many starts. Haylee Gibson (99 Psycho Clowns) was third.

For the second day in a row penalties effected the result of the men’s F2 event.

On Saturday, Lachlan Nix and Gro Up F2 (pictured above) edged out Jack Stevens by what appeared to be less than ten seconds before Stevens earned a time penalty and was relegated to third, with Jack Coaldrake (HiJACT) in second.

The battle resumed on Sunday with Nix biding his time and putting trust in his driver Alex Handley and observer Brian Griffin to pull the trigger and go past Stevens and Race Marine when the time was right, before hanging on for what was thought to be a two and a half second victory.

Following a review by the judges, Stevens was declared the winner, Nix was relegated all the way to fifth, with Coaldrake second and Aiden Cuff (Meltdown F2) in third.

Meanwhile, Cameron Osborne, who was towed by Stinga F1, continued his preparation for the world championships with another impressive performance in the open men’s event in which he was the only competitor.

Osborne was one of six Australians to claim gold medals at the last world titles, held in in Tacoma, Washington, in 2017, the Sydneysider taking out the F2 event on that occasion.

Australia’s reigning men’s open world champion Ben Gulley is recovering from surgery in a bid to defend his title.